Privacy Policy

The Footcare Co – Privacy Policy

Last updated: 14 September 2026

The Footcare Co is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information fairly, securely and transparently.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, who we may share it with, how long we keep it, and your rights in relation to your personal information.

The Footcare Co is the data controller responsible for your personal information.

1. Who we are

The Footcare Co
Data Controller: Emily Chudley
Telephone: 0117 214 1026 / 07366 254846
Email: feet@thefootcareco.co.uk

If you have any questions about how we use your personal information, or wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us using the details above.

We are a foot health practice providing foot health services and related products.

2. What personal information we collect

Depending on the services you use, we may collect and process the following information:

Personal and contact information

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Date of birth or age where relevant to your care
• Emergency contact or next-of-kin details where appropriate

Health and treatment information

This may include:

• Medical history
• Current health conditions
• Medication
• Allergies
• Relevant lifestyle information
• Foot health history
• Information about your feet and any conditions affecting them
• Treatment and assessment records
• Photographs where appropriate and where we have a lawful basis to take and retain them
• Information provided by you that is relevant to your foot health or treatment

Health information is special category personal data under UK data protection law and receives additional protection.

Payment and transaction information

We may collect information necessary to process payments for appointments or products, such as:

• Amount paid
• Date of payment
• Payment method
• Transaction or payment reference

We do not normally need to collect or store your full card details ourselves when a third-party payment provider processes your payment.

Online booking information

If you book an appointment online, we may collect information such as:

• Your name
• Contact details
• Appointment details
• Information you provide through the booking process
• Any information you choose to provide that is relevant to your appointment

Online bookings are processed through Cliniko, our practice management and appointment-booking system.

3. How we collect your information

We may collect personal information:

• Directly from you when you contact us
• When you book an appointment
• Through our online booking system
• During an appointment or consultation
• When you complete a patient form or provide consent
• When you communicate with us by telephone, email, text message or other communication methods
• When you make a payment
• When you purchase a product from us
• From another healthcare professional, carer or representative where appropriate and lawful
• From a parent or guardian where appropriate
• Through our website when you use features such as online booking

Where we obtain information about you from someone other than you, we will only use that information where we have a lawful basis to do so.

4. Why we use your information

We use your personal information for purposes including:

• Providing foot health assessments and treatments
• Assessing your foot health needs
• Maintaining accurate and up-to-date patient records
• Arranging and managing appointments
• Processing online bookings
• Sending appointment confirmations, reminders and relevant appointment information
• Communicating with you about your treatment or appointments
• Processing payments
• Providing products or services you have requested
• Managing our business and accounts
• Maintaining appropriate professional and legal records
• Responding to enquiries
• Managing complaints or concerns
• Protecting the safety of patients and others
• Communicating with other healthcare professionals where this is appropriate and lawful
• Asking for feedback or a review following an appointment
• Maintaining and improving our website and online booking service
• Meeting our legal, regulatory and professional obligations

We will only use your personal information for purposes that are compatible with the reason it was collected, unless the law allows or requires us to use it for another purpose.

5. Our lawful bases for using your personal information

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for processing personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract

We may process your personal information where it is necessary to provide the foot health services you have requested or to take steps at your request before providing those services.

For example, this may include using your contact details to arrange an appointment or providing treatment following your booking.

Legal obligation

We may process personal information where we are required to do so to comply with a legal obligation.

This may include maintaining appropriate business, financial, accounting or professional records where required.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal information where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

This may include:

• Managing and administering our business
• Maintaining appropriate business records
• Managing appointments
• Communicating with existing patients about appointments and services they have requested
• Protecting the security of our systems and records
• Responding to enquiries and managing complaints
• Improving the services we provide

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider whether the processing is necessary and whether your interests and rights outweigh our legitimate interests.

Consent

Where appropriate, we may rely on your consent to process personal information.

Where consent is our lawful basis, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Please note that not all processing of your information relies on consent. Where another lawful basis applies, withdrawing consent will not necessarily require us to stop processing your information.

6. Health and other special category information

Information about your health is classed as special category personal data and requires additional protection under UK data protection law.

We process health information because it is necessary to provide appropriate foot health services and treatment, maintain accurate clinical records and ensure that treatment is provided safely and appropriately.

For this type of information, we rely on an appropriate Article 6 lawful basis together with an applicable Article 9 condition for processing special category data.

Where appropriate, this includes processing necessary for the provision of health or social care and the management of health or social care systems and services.

We only collect health information that is relevant to your care and will take appropriate steps to keep it secure.

7. Online bookings through Cliniko

We use Cliniko to manage appointments and patient information and to provide online appointment booking.

When you use our online booking service, information that you provide through the booking process may be processed by Cliniko on our behalf.

Cliniko's services may involve the use of cookies or similar technologies in connection with online booking.

Our website's Cookie Policy explains how cookies and similar technologies are used on our website, including technologies associated with online booking and any analytics or tracking services we use.

You can read our Cookie Policy on our website.

Where Cliniko provides an option for you to acknowledge our Privacy Policy during online booking, we may use this functionality to record that you have been provided with and acknowledged our Privacy Policy.

8. Patient records

We maintain patient records containing information relevant to your foot health and treatment.

These records help us:

• Provide safe and appropriate treatment
• Understand your relevant medical and foot health history
• Monitor your treatment
• Maintain continuity of care
• Respond appropriately to future appointments
• Meet applicable professional, legal and insurance requirements

We take reasonable steps to ensure that patient records are accurate, relevant and kept up to date.

9. How we store and protect your information

We use trusted clinical and business service providers to securely manage and store personal information.

These include Cliniko and Finger-Ink, which we use for clinical records, patient management and/or appointment-related services.

We also use third-party payment providers, including Stripe and Lopay, where necessary to process payments.

We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

Access to patient information is limited to those who need it for legitimate treatment, administrative or business purposes.

Our service providers use their own security measures and are subject to their own privacy and data protection obligations. Where they process personal information on our behalf, we ensure that appropriate contractual arrangements are in place where required.

No method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure. However, we take reasonable steps to protect your information and choose service providers with appropriate security and data protection measures.

10. Who we may share your information with

We will only share your personal information where there is a lawful basis to do so.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

Healthcare professionals

Where appropriate and lawful, we may share relevant information with other healthcare professionals involved in your care, such as:

• Your GP
• Practice nurses
• Other healthcare professionals
• Other practitioners involved in your treatment

We will normally seek your consent before sharing information with another healthcare professional unless we have another lawful basis for doing so or are required to share the information by law.

Service providers

We may use trusted third-party organisations that provide services necessary for us to operate our business.

These may include providers of:

• Patient management and online booking systems
• Payment processing
• Email and communication services
• Website hosting
• Website analytics
• IT and technical support
• Accounting and bookkeeping services

These organisations may process personal information on our behalf where necessary to provide their services.

CLINIKO
FINGERINK

STRIPE PAYMENTS

LOPAY

Legal or regulatory authorities

We may disclose information where we are required or permitted to do so by law, regulation, court order or another lawful request.

11. International transfers

Some of the organisations we use to provide our services may process or transfer personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where this happens, we take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information continues to receive an appropriate level of protection and that any transfer complies with applicable UK data protection law.

Cliniko

We use Cliniko to manage patient records and appointments and to provide online booking.

Cliniko states that patient data for UK-based accounts is stored in the United Kingdom. Cliniko also uses third-party subprocessors which may process certain information in other countries, including the United States and Australia.

Cliniko provides a Data Processing Addendum containing appropriate safeguards for international transfers, including Standard Contractual Clauses and other applicable transfer mechanisms.

Finger-Ink

We use Finger-Ink for certain aspects of our clinical record and patient management processes.

Where Finger-Ink processes Patient or Client Data on our behalf, The Footcare Co remains the data controller and Finger-Ink acts as our data processor.

Finger-Ink states that some information may be processed outside the UK, including in New Zealand and the United States. Where required, appropriate safeguards are used for these transfers, including adequacy decisions and contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Addendum and Standard Contractual Clauses.

Stripe

Stripe may process personal information internationally in connection with payment processing and related services.

Stripe states that personal information may be transferred to and processed in countries including the United States and India. Where required, Stripe uses appropriate legal safeguards for international transfers, including adequacy decisions, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum and other lawful transfer mechanisms.

Lopay

We use Lopay to process certain payments.

Lopay may transfer personal information outside the United Kingdom. Lopay states that it uses appropriate safeguards for international transfers, which may include transfers to countries recognised as providing adequate protection, recognised international data-transfer frameworks and approved contractual safeguards.

Lopay also uses Stripe in connection with certain aspects of its payment services.

Our approach

We do not sell your personal information.

Where we use third-party service providers to process personal information on our behalf, we take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate data protection agreements and safeguards are in place.

The organisations and arrangements described above may change from time to time. Where this happens, we will review the relevant privacy and data protection arrangements and update this Privacy Policy where appropriate.

12. How long we keep your information

We retain patient and treatment records for 7 years after your last appointment, after which they will be securely deleted or destroyed, unless we have a lawful reason or legal requirement to retain them for longer.

Other information may be retained for different periods depending on its purpose and any applicable legal, accounting, insurance or professional requirements.

When information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete or dispose of it.

13. Emails, appointment messages and reviews

We may contact you by email, telephone or text message where necessary to:

• Confirm or manage appointments
• Send appointment reminders
• Communicate information relating to your treatment
• Respond to enquiries
• Provide information relating to services you have requested
• Request feedback or a review following an appointment

Where we send a review request, this is intended to obtain feedback about the service you have received.

If we send electronic direct marketing, we will comply with the applicable requirements of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), including obtaining consent where required.

14. Website cookies and analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies.

These may include technologies that are:

• Necessary for the website to function
• Required to provide online booking functionality
• Used to remember preferences
• Used for website analytics
• Used for other purposes where applicable

Some cookies or similar technologies may require your consent before they are used.

Our separate Cookie Policy explains the cookies and similar technologies used on our website, their purposes, the organisations involved and how you can manage your preferences.

Where consent is required, we will ask for your consent before using the relevant non-essential cookies or technologies.

The use of cookies and similar technologies is subject to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), as well as UK data protection law where personal information is processed.

15. Your data protection rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have the following rights:

Right of access

You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.

Right to rectification

You can ask us to correct information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to erasure

In certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal information.

This right is not absolute and may not apply where we have a legal or legitimate reason to retain your information.

Right to restriction

In certain circumstances, you can ask us to restrict how we use your personal information.

Right to object

In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to our processing of your personal information, particularly where we rely on legitimate interests.

You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing.

Right to data portability

In certain circumstances, you can ask us to provide personal information that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or ask us to transfer it to another organisation.

Right to withdraw consent

Where we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you can withdraw that consent at any time.

Your rights are subject to certain conditions and exemptions under data protection law, so they will not apply in every situation.

16. How to exercise your rights

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us using the details below.

We will normally respond to a valid request without undue delay and, in most circumstances, within one month of receiving it.

We may need to ask for information to confirm your identity before dealing with your request.

You will not normally have to pay a fee to exercise your data protection rights.

17. How to make a complaint

If you have any concerns about how we have collected or used your personal information, please contact us first:

Emily Chudley – Data Controller
The Footcare Co
Telephone: 07463 173203
Email: feet@thefootcareco.co.uk

We will do our best to resolve your concerns.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe that your personal information has been handled unlawfully.

Information Commissioner's Office

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://ico.org.uk/

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, the way we process personal information, our use of third-party providers or changes in data protection law.

The date at the top of this Privacy Policy shows when it was most recently updated.

We recommend checking this page periodically for the latest version. 

Last updated: 14 September 2026